Ambitious and wide-ranging, The Selfish Society reveals the vital importance of understanding our early emotional lives, arguing that by focusing on the attention we give to our young children we can create a better society. Open any newspaper, and what do you find? Violence and crime, child abuse and neglect, expenses scandals, addiction, fraud and corruption, environmental melt-down Is Britain indeed broken? How did modern society get to this point? Who is to blame? How can we change?

We have come to inhabit a culture of selfish individualism which has confused material well-being with happiness. As society became bigger and more competitive, working life was cut off from child-rearing and the new economics ignored people's emotional needs. We have lived with this culture so long that it is hard to imagine it being any different. Yet we are now at a turning point where the need for change is becoming urgent. If we are to build a more reflective and collaborative society, Gerhardt argues, we need to support the caring qualities that are learnt in early life and integrate them into our political and economic thinking. Inspiring and thought-provoking, The Selfish Society  sets out a roadmap to a more positive and compassionate future.

'Inspiring ... Gerhardt has world-saving proposals up her sleeve ... [This] needs to be read right now by everyone' - Observer

'Gerhardt not only pinpoints what is wrong, but also suggests ways to put it right ... I think I believe her' - Independent on Sunday (Indy Choice Best New Books)

'An absorbing survey of competing parenting theories' & 'an enormous imaginative leap from the intricate wiring of an infant's brain to the global challenges facing the planet' - The Guardian (Guardian Non-Fiction Choice)

'Gerhardt intersperses her extensive narrative research with anecdotes drawn from her experiences as a practising psychotherapist' - Financial Times

'A powerful new book... the book calls for an end to greed and materialism, and the creation of a mature and empathic, emotionally literate society' - Daily Mail